A communication apparatus receives a signal that is transmitted from a partner apparatus using a first communication scheme, and establishes, on the basis that the signal received includes information indicating that parameter exchange processing is to be executed, a connection with the partner apparatus using a second communication scheme, wherein the second communication scheme has a higher communication rate and consumes more power than the first communication scheme. In addition, the communication apparatus exchanges, by using the second communication scheme, information to be used in communication for the parameter exchange processing with the partner apparatus, and executes the parameter exchange processing using the information by using the second communication unit scheme.

Embedding of digital incentive tokens within a digital image can occur cryptographically using a public key in some embodiments. An encrypted digital incentive token may be embedded within a digital image, including a variety of encrypted information. The digital image with the embedded digital incentive token may be sent to users via delivery mechanisms such as direct webpage embedding, email, text message, and social media sharing. An image recipient may be able to view the image and also take additional action including gaining access to the embedded digital incentive token. Digital incentive tokens can be embedded by altering image metadata so that the image itself is not changed in some embodiments, but data associated with the image is changed to identify the token. Pixel data can be altered to reflect a token for an image. Digital incentive tokens can also be tracked through different platforms to determine usage.

Facilitate configuration of authentication information for a service provided over IP network when there is no shared authentication information between IoT device and service provider device for a service used by IoT device, an intermediary device capable of authenticating legitimate access mediates between devices. An example: a cipher key CK stored in intermediary device and IoT device, as a result of SIM authentication of the SIM of the IoT device, is used as master key for services used by IoT device. By generating unique application key for a service used by IoT device on the intermediary device and IoT device on the basis of master key, and sending it to service provider apparatus from intermediary device by secure connection, common keys are set as authentication information to IoT device and service provider apparatus. A SIM authentication process for generating cipher key can suppress SQN attack based on a bad request.

A network protocol provides mutual authentication of network-connected devices that are parties to a communication channel in environments where the amount of memory and processing power available to the network-connected devices is constrained. When a new device is added to a network, the device contacts a registration service and provides authentication information that proves the authenticity of the device. After verifying the authenticity of the device, the registration service generates a token that can be used to by the device to authenticate with other network entities, and provides the token to the device. The registration service publishes the token using a directory service. When the device connects to another network entity, the device provides the token to the other network entity, and the other network entity authenticates the device by verifying the token using the directory service.

A method for improving performance of a computer procurement application includes using the procurement control system computer, determining a peer group associated with a first entity; using a procurement control system computer, obtaining, from client computers respectively associated with the entities, configurations that instruct a procurement application how to perform procurement tasks for the respective entities of the entities in the peer group; using a procurement control system computer, obtaining, from a first client computer associated with the first entity, a first configuration that instruct the procurement application how to perform procurement tasks for the first entity; obtaining a desired end result from the first entity; using the procurement control system computer, using a machine learning algorithm, determining configurations of the peer groups that have a causal relationship to the desired end result; providing a description of the configuration value to the client computer associated with the first entity.

A host processing device instructs a plurality of data processing (DP) accelerators to configure themselves for secure communications. The host device generates an adjacency table of each of the plurality of DP accelerators. Then the host device then establishes a session key communication with each DP accelerator and sends the DP accelerator a list of other DP accelerators that the DP accelerator is to establish a session key with, for secure communications between the DP accelerators. The DP accelerator establishes a different session key for each pair of the plurality of DP accelerators. When all DP accelerators have established a session key for communication with other DP accelerators, according to the respective list of other DP accelerators sent by the host device, then the host device can assign work tasks for performance by a plurality of DP accelerators, each communicating over a separately secured communication channel.

A mechanism for providing secure feature and key management in integrated circuits is described. An example integrated circuit includes a secure memory to store a secret key, and a security manager core, coupled to the secure memory, to receive a digitally signed command, verify a signature associated with the command using the secret key, and configure operation of the integrated circuit using the command.

A method and system of creating and managing encryption keys that facilitates sharing of encrypted content. The system may include an information management system with a key management server and a computing device having an encryption service module. The encryption service module detects operations at the computing device and encrypts a document with an encryption key created using user information and a secret.

Some database systems may implement encryption services to improve the security of data stored in databases or on disks. The systems may implement encryption using multiple encryption keys. For example, a worker server may implement a system call interceptor, such as a filesystem in userspace (Fuse) driver. The system call interceptor may intercept system calls (e.g., associated with query or extract, transform, and load (ETL) jobs) as they enter or exit the kernel. The system call interceptor may determine whether data sets associated with the jobs are marked for encryption, and may perform an encryption process on the data sets. A worker may encrypt and store data sets on a worker disk or at a file store, or may retrieve and decrypt the data sets. The system may additionally manage encryption keys, and may provide mechanisms for archiving or revoking encryption keys while maintaining user access to stored data sets.

A request to add tags (e.g., labels, key-value pairs, or metadata) to resources can be digitally signed by the entity making the request, such that the source can be verified and an authorization determination made for each tag. For a request involving multiple services (or entities) that can each add tags, any tag added by a service can be included in the request and digitally signed by that service. Each service processing the request can also digitally sign the request before forwarding, so that each service signs a version of the request, which includes elements signed by other services earlier in the request chain. When the request is received to a tagging service, the service ensures that every tag was digitally signed by the appropriate authorized entity or service, and validates the signatures to ensure that no data was modified or omitted, before adding the tags to the designated resource(s).